Introduction: Acromegaly is a chronic disease with a serious impact on patients morbidity, mortality and health-related quality of life (HRQOL). Recently a disease-specific questionnaire assessing HRQOL in acromegaly was developed (AcroQoL). Using this tool we have compared QoL in patients with controlled versus uncontrolled acromegaly.

Patients and methods: It was a prospective, cross-sectional study. For the period 2007December 2008 163 patients with acromegaly completed the Bulgarian version of the AcroQol in the endocrinology department of our clinics. They were divided into two groups: patients with active acromegaly (n=87, mean age 48.33±12.72) and patients in remission according to the consensus criteria (n=76, mean age 51.51±11.75). Statistical analysis was performed by XPSS version 9, using χ2 for categorical data and Students t-test for continuous data.

Results: A marked impairment of the patients QoL was observed in all scales. However, no statistically significant difference was found between controlled versus the uncontrolled group. Mean total score was 44.59±22.91 vs 50.45±25.94 (P=0.131), mean physical scale score was 38.16±23.03 vs 43.89±26.18 (P=0.143), mean appearance subscale score was 43.85±23.91 vs 49±27.69 and mean personal relations score was 52.80±26.93 vs 59.21±27.95 (P=0.14) in patients in remission and active disease respectively.

Conslusion: Remission status, defined by biochemical criteria, does not ameliorate QoL in patients with acromegaly. There could be several factors influencing impaired QoL and giving directions for further improvement: delayed diagnosis and achievement of remission, relapses of the disease, inadequate approach to the concomitant diseases and complications.